Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-r6qrq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T15:30:35.078Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Increase in Psychotropic Drug Deliveries after the Xynthia Storm, France, 2010

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2013

Yvon Motreff ,
Philippe Pirard ,
Sarah Goria ,
Boris Labrador ,
Claire Gourier-Fréry ,
Javier Nicolau ,
Alain Le Tertre  and
Christine Chan-Chee
Yvon Motreff*
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Health, French Institute for Public Health Surveillance (InVS), Saint-Maurice, France
Philippe Pirard
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Health, French Institute for Public Health Surveillance (InVS), Saint-Maurice, France
Sarah Goria
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Health, French Institute for Public Health Surveillance (InVS), Saint-Maurice, France
Boris Labrador
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Health, French Institute for Public Health Surveillance (InVS), Saint-Maurice, France
Claire Gourier-Fréry
Affiliation:
Department of Chronic Diseases and Injuries, French Institute for Public Health Surveillance (InVS), Saint-Maurice, France
Javier Nicolau
Affiliation:
Head of Science Office, French Institute for Public Health Surveillance (InVS), Saint-Maurice, France
Alain Le Tertre
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Health, French Institute for Public Health Surveillance (InVS), Saint-Maurice, France
Christine Chan-Chee
Affiliation:
Department of Chronic Diseases and Injuries, French Institute for Public Health Surveillance (InVS), Saint-Maurice, France
*
Correspondence: Yvon Motreff, MSc Département Santé Environnement Institut de Veille Sanitaire 12 rue du Val d'Osne 94415 Saint-Maurice, Cedex, France E-mail y.motreff@invs.sante.fr
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Introduction

During the night of February 27 and the early morning of February 28, 2010, 15 coastal municipalities situated in two French departments, Vendée and Charente-Maritime, were violently stricken by a severe windstorm named “Xynthia.” This storm caused the death of 12 individuals in Charente-Maritime and 29 people in Vendée. Houses, agricultural fields, and shellfish companies were severely flooded with seawater. Several thousand people temporarily had to leave their homes. The objective of this study was to estimate the short-term mental health impact of Xynthia, in terms of psychotropic drug delivery, on the resident population of the 15 coastal municipalities severely hit by the flooding.

Methods

The French national health insurance database was used to calculate a daily number of new psychotropic treatments from September 1, 2008 through December 24, 2010. New treatments were calculated for each of the following European Pharmaceutical Marketing Research Association (EphMRA) classes: tranquilizers (N05C), hypnotics (N05B), and antidepressants (N06A). A period of three weeks following the storm was defined as the exposure period. A generalized additive model with a Poisson distribution that allows for over-dispersion was used to analyze the correlation between the Xynthia variable and the number of new psychotropic treatments.

Results

With a relative risk (RR) of 1.54 (95% CI, 1.39-1.62) corresponding to an estimate of 409 new deliveries of psychotropic drugs during the three weeks following the storm, this study confirms the importance of the psychological impact of Xynthia. This impact is seen on all three classes of psychotropic drugs studied. The impact is greater for tranquilizers (RR of 1.78; 95% CI, 1.59-1.89) than for hypnotics (RR of 1.53; 95% CI, 1.31-1.67) and antidepressants (RR of 1.26; 95% CI, 1.06-1.40). The RR was higher for females than for males.

Conclusion

This study shows the importance of the psychological impact of the storm as observed clinically by health workers who intervened in the field during the aftermath of Xynthia. It confirms that administrative databases can be used to show a health impact of a disaster even at a local level. This is one more step in the direction of a comprehensive strategy of collecting information to allow the assessment of the health impact of an extreme event, the detection of vulnerable populations, and the orientation of the short-, mid- and long-term public health response.

MotreffY, PirardP, GoriaS, LabradorB, Gourier-FréryC, NicolauJ, Le TertreA, Chan-CheeC. Increase in Psychotropic Drug Deliveries after the Xynthia Storm, France, 2010. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2013;28(5):1-6.

Keywords

health insurancemental healthnatural disasterpsychotropic drugs
Type
Original Research
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 28 , Issue 5 , October 2013 , pp. 428 - 433
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Ollivier, R, Loury, P, Hubert, B. Monitoring report of psychological and health consequences of the Xynthia storm in Southwest Vendée in 2010. Saint-Maurice: Institut de veille sanitaire; 2011. http://www.invs.sante.fr. Accessed November 21, 2012.Google Scholar
2.Raguenaud, ME, Germonneau, P, Pirard, P, Motreff, Y. Surveillance of psychological consequences after the Xynthia storm in Charente-Maritime, France, 2010. Saint-Maurice: Institut de veille sanitaire; 2011. http://www.invs.sante.fr. Accessed November 21, 2012.Google Scholar
3.Ahern, M, Kovats, RS, Wilkinson, P, Few, R, Matthies, F. Global health impacts of floods: epidemiologic evidence. Epidemiol Rev. 2005;27(1):36-46.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4.Du, W, FitzGerald, GJ, Clark, M, Hou, XY. Health impacts of floods. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2010;25(3):265-272.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
5.Raguenaud, ME, Germonneau, P, Leseigneur, J, et al. Epidemiological surveillance linked to an outreach psychological support program after the Xynthia storm in Charente-Maritime, France, 2010. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2012;27(5):483-488.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6.Ligier, K, Ganiayre, F, Zielinski, O, et al. Health survey among flood victims in the Somme area [in French]. Rev Epidemiol Sante Publique. 2005;53(6):658-665.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7.Mason, V, Andrews, H, Upton, D. The psychological impact of exposure to floods. Psychol Health Med. 2010;15(1):61-73.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8.Paranjothy, S, Gallacher, J, Amlot, R, et al. Psychosocial impact of the summer 2007 floods in England. BMC Public Health. 2011;11:145.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
9.Reacher, M, McKenzie, K, Lane, C, et al. Health impacts of flooding in Lewes: a comparison of reported gastrointestinal and other illness and mental health in flooded and non-flooded households. Commun Dis Public Health. 2004;7(1):39-46.Google ScholarPubMed
10.Verger, P, Hunault, C, Rotily, M, Baruffol, E. Risk factors for post traumatic stress symptoms five years after the 1992 flood in the Vaucluse (France) [in French]. Rev Epidemiol Sante Publique. 2000;48(Suppl 2):2S44-2S53.Google Scholar
11.Verger, P, Rotily, M, Hunault, C, Brenot, J, Baruffol, E, Bard, D. Assessment of exposure to a flood disaster in a mental-health study. J Expo Anal Environ Epidemiol. 2003;13(6):436-442.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12.Abramson, D, Stehling-Ariza, T, Garfield, R, Redlener, I. Prevalence and predictors of mental health distress post-Katrina: findings from the Gulf Coast Child and Family Health Study. Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 2008;2(2):77-86.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
13.Six, C, Mantey, K, Franke, F, Pascal, L, Malfait, P. Study on psychological distress after floods using health insurance databases Gard district, September 2002. Saint-Maurice: Institut de veille sanitaire; 2008. http://www.invs.sante.fr. Accessed November 21, 2012.Google Scholar
14.Rossi, A, Maggio, R, Riccardi, I, Allegrini, F, Stratta, P. A quantitative analysis of antidepressant and antipsychotic prescriptions following an earthquake in Italy. J Trauma Stress. 2011;24(1):129-132.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
15.Caamano-Isorna, F, Figueiras, A, Sastre, I, Montes-Martinez, A, Taracido, M, Pineiro-Lamas, M. Respiratory and mental health effects of wildfires: an ecological study in Galician municipalities (north-west Spain). Environ Health. 2011;10:48.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
16.Usher, K, Brown, LH, Buettner, P, et al. Rate of prescription of antidepressant and anxiolytic drugs after Cyclone Yasi in North Queensland. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2012;27(6):519-523.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
17.DiMaggio, C, Galea, S, Madrid, P. SSRI prescription rates after a terrorist attack. Psychiatr Serv. 2006;57(11):1656-1657.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
18.DiMaggio, C, Galea, S, Madrid, PA. Population psychiatric medication prescription rates following a terrorist attack. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2007;22(6):479-484.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
19.Kettl, P, Bixler, E. Changes in psychotropic drug use after September 11, 2001. Psychiatr Serv. 2002;53(11):1475-1476.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
20.Roussel, H. Combien de patients ont été traités par psychotropes après l'explosion de l'usine AZF? Estimation à partir de l’étude des remboursements de médicaments psychotropes. Médistat’. 2002;4:1-4.Google Scholar
21.Schwoebel, V, Cassadou, S, Roussel, H, Guinard, A, Lapierre, K, Lang, T. Utilisation de données de différents systèmes d'information sanitaire pour l'aide à la décision en santé publique à la suite de l'explosion de l'usine “AZF” à Toulouse. Rev Epidemiol Sante Publique. 2004;52(Suppl 1):80-81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
22.Tuppin, P, de Roquefeuil, L, Weill, A, Ricordeau, P, Merliere, Y. French national health insurance information system and the permanent beneficiaries sample. Rev Epidemiol Sante Publique. 2010;58(4):286-290.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
23. Haute autorité de santé. Affections psychiatriques de longue durée, troubles anxieux graves. 2007. http://www.has-sante.fr. Accessed November 21, 2012.Google Scholar
24. Agence française de sécurité sanitaire des produits de santé. Bon usage des médicaments dans le traitement des troubles dépressifs et des troubles anxieux de l'adulte—recommandations. 2006. http://ansm.sante.fr/. Accessed January 8, 2013.Google Scholar
25.Hastie, TJ, Tibshirani, RJ. Generalized Additive Models. London, England: Chapman and Hall; 1990.Google Scholar
26.Wood, SN. Thin plate regression splines. J R Stat Soc Series B Stat Methodol. 2003;65(1):95-114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
27.Le Tertre, A, Lefranc, A, Eilstein, D, et al. Impact of the 2003 heatwave on all-cause mortality in 9 French cities. Epidemiology. 2006;17(1):75-79.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
28.Wood, SN. Generalized Additive Models: An Introduction with R. Boca Raton, Florida: Chapman & Hall/CRC; 2006.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
29.R Development Core Team (2011). R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria; 2011. http://www.R-project.org/. Accessed November 21, 2012.Google Scholar
30.Fassaert, T, Dorn, T, Spreeuwenberg, PM, van Dongen, MC, van Gool, CJ, Yzermans, CJ. Prescription of benzodiazepines in general practice in the context of a man-made disaster: a longitudinal study. Eur J Public Health. 2007;17(6):612-617.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
31.North, CS, Nixon, SJ, Shariat, S, et al. Psychiatric disorders among survivors of the Oklahoma City bombing. JAMA. 1999;282(8):755-762.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
32.Pulcino, T, Galea, S, Ahern, J, Resnick, H, Foley, M, Vlahov, D. Posttraumatic stress in women after the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York City. J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2003;12(8):809-820.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
33.Stuber, J, Resnick, H, Galea, S. Gender disparities in posttraumatic stress disorder after mass trauma. Gend Med. 2006;3(1):54-67.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
34.Tolin, DF, Foa, EB. Sex differences in trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder: a quantitative review of 25 years of research. Psychol Bull. 2006;132(6):959-992.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
35.DiMaggio, C, Galea, S, Abramson, D. Analyzing postdisaster surveillance data: the effect of the statistical method. Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 2008;2(2):119-126.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
36.Wang, PS, Gruber, MJ, Powers, RE, et al. Disruption of existing mental health treatments and failure to initiate new treatment after Hurricane Katrina. Am J Psychiatry. 2008;165(1):34-41.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed